http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/breaknews-15004--13-13---breaknews.htmlAccused Guyanese drug trafficker pleads guilty to all charges in New York
Published on Tuesday, March 17, 2009 Email To Friend Print Version
By Oscar Ramjeet
Caribbean Net News Special Correspondent
Email:
oscar@caribbeannetnews.com NEW YORK, USA: Accused Guyanese drug trafficker, Shaheed ‘Roger’ Khan, who was apprehended in Suriname nearly three years ago and was sent to the United States to face a series of drug-related charges, has changed his plea to that of guilty.
The Stabroek News reported that, in a surpise twist, Khan pleaded guilty to all pending charges against him in the US, including drug trafficking and witness tampering and is likely to serve 15 years behind bars.
Shaheed 'Roger' Khan
The 36-year-old Khan, who started his criminal career in 1992 in Maryland and Vermont, appeared in the New York Eastern District Court before Justice Dora Irizarry at 5 pm on Monday and pleaded guilty to indictments in three criminal matters: narcotics trafficking, obstruction of justice and a separate gun-running charge. It is unclear if the plea was accepted.
In a letter to the presiding judges in the New York court, US Attorney Benton Campbell indicated that the prosecution and the defence had come to an agreement for Khan to receive a 15-year sentence when he pleads guilty to all the charges.
The latest twist in the saga comes less than two weeks before the scheduled start of Khan's trial on the drug charges, for which he could have been sentenced to life in prison.
Prior to fleeing to Suriname and in response to police searches of his various properties and a wanted bulletin issued for him, Khan had placed newspaper advertisements in the Guyana Chronicle and Kaieteur News stating that he was involved in crime fighting in Guyana and he worked closely with local and US law enforcement officials.
Since being imprisoned, Khan and the prosecution have made some explosive statements about the inner workings of his criminal enterprise and other matters in Guyana. Khan's former lawyer, Robert Simels, along with his assistant, Arianne Irving, is now his co-defendant on a witness tampering charge.
Khan is charged with conspiring to import cocaine into the US over a five year period from January 2001 to March 2006. The US government said that he was the leader of a cocaine trafficking organisation based in Georgetown, Guyana.
The US government had charged that a significant amount of the cocaine distributed by Khan went to New York for further distribution. As an example, it cited a Guyanese drug trafficking organisation based in Queens, New York, which it said was supplied by Khan. The Queens organisation was said to have distributed hundreds of kilos of cocaine in a two-month period during the spring of 2003.
The judge was of the opinion that the dangerousness of Khan, as alleged by the prosecution, was a fact worth considering since, according to one of the government's confidential sources, the ‘Phantom Squad’ Khan was associated with was responsible for "at least 200 extra-judicial killings" in Guyana from 2002 to 2006.
Stabroek News was told that Khan employed ex-convicts and policemen, paid them and had them gather intelligence on the whereabouts of the five escapees from the Georgetown Prison on Camp Street on February 23, 2002. Their escape was a catalyst for a crime wave that the country had never before experienced. During the period 21 policemen were shot dead and numerous civilians murdered.
